American Marconi Wireless News - Colombian judge bans strikes on guerrillas if minors are present

The order came after a series of military airstrikes on drug-running rebels killed dozens of people including at least three teenagers.

US-backed De la Espriella took power last month and has pledged to come down hard on armed groups in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer.

The court order applies to the southern Amazonian department of Guaviare, where two recent airstrikes killed at least 33 members of a dissident faction of the defunct rebel army FARC.

It ruled "the temporary suspension" of bombings of rebel camps when there is intelligence information or other alerts about "the possible presence of children and adolescents."

At least three minors aged between 15 and 16 were among the dead in Guaviare, the Colombian forensics authority reported Sunday.

It remains unknown if more minors were killed by ensuing attacks ordered by the government.

The measure will remain in force while the judge rules on a legal action filed by a citizen against the government and the armed forces over the alleged violation of the minors' fundamental rights.

"We know these armed groups must be subdued. But the question is: what do we do with these children?" plaintiff Roxemhberg Rozo, a political scientist and law student, told AFP.

"The government's response cannot be to bomb them and kill them," the 35-year-old added.

Rights groups warn that children and teens are increasingly being recruited by these groups through slick social media campaigns.

Colombia's ombudsman reported 428 cases of child recruitment by armed groups last year.

A report published by Human Rights Watch last week said that, in some cases, children were being used as "cannon fodder."

The defense ministry has asserted the legality of its operations in Guaviare.

De la Espriella on Monday voiced full-throated support for the airstrikes on what he called "narco-terrorist" groups.

His administration this week published a video of the president walking between shrouded corpses laid on plastic flooring.

The recording was met with disbelief in the South American country, with some describing the messaging as callous and inhumane.

Minors also died in bombings carried out by previous administrations under leftist Gustavo Petro and right-winger Ivan Duque.

D.Kaufman--AMWN